Defending The Church vs. Seeking The Truth

[deacon blues]

I recently read a Juanita Brooks interview in a 1974 Dialogueand it made me think about how the Mountain Meadows Massacre coverup contributed to the negative perception of Mormonism in the 19th century. We can't say for sure, but if there had been no coverup, if Brigham Young and the Church had been forthright in 1858, how would things have been different?
Would more Southern Utah Mormons have been convicted and executed?
Would Brigham Young have been prosecuted?
Would Mormonism been seen as less subversive if they had cooperated with an investigation?

Most of these questions could be applied to the massacre at Haun's Mill, but the last one stands out in my mind. Mormonism's predisposition to hide uncomfortable truth must have had a bearing on their negative public image, then and now, and rightly so.

Thoughts comparing My Lai (Viet Nam)to Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Did Lt. William Calley have a similar guilt to John D. Lee?
Calley was pardoned by Pres. Nixon. Would any MM Massacre participants have been pardoned?

One other thought: Why can't Jeff Holland see that Matt Easton coming out at the BYU graduation in 2019 was good for the image of the LDS Church??????

[moksha]

Thoughts comparing My Lai (Viet Nam)to Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Did Lt. William Calley have a similar guilt to John D. Lee?
Calley was pardoned by Pres. Nixon. Would any MM Massacre participants have been pardoned?

Nixon did not have to consider that the victims were Americans, to him the Vietnamese were the others. The Mountain Meadows incident involved pre-meditated murders. Lee was offered up as a sacrificial goat, with no mention of the Mormon Oath of Vengence against the United States

One other thought: Why can't Jeff Holland see that Matt Easton coming out at the BYU graduation in 2019 was good for the image of the LDS Church??????

Probably no one has dared mention that to the Brethren.